Supreme Court denies review of Arkansas abortion law News
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Supreme Court denies review of Arkansas abortion law

The US Supreme Court [judicial website] on Tuesday declined [docket] to hear a case in which a branch of Planned Parenthood [advocacy website] challenged an Arkansas abortion law.

The law requires any doctor prescribing an abortion pill to have an agreement [SCOTUSblog report] with another doctor who can admit the patient to the hospital in the case of an emergency.

A federal appeals court upheld the Arkansas law finding that “the law cannot be blocked without ‘concrete district court findings estimating the number of women’ who would either postpone the procedure or pass it up altogether.”

In their brief, Planned Parenthood alleged [text, PDF] that the law placed an “undue burden on their patients’ right to choose an abortion.” Planned Parenthood said that the law was not medically necessary and would only leave one abortion provider in the state of Arkansas.

The Supreme Court did not give a reason as to why they denied the petition. Their decision allows the law to stand.